Finish reading "Farmer Giles of Ham" from the Tolkien Reader and identify a theme of the story. If you wish to impress your friends and your teacher, connect the theme to one we have seen earlier, either in the Silmarillion or in a fairy-story that we have read.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2004

Answers

Farmer Giles was quite an unheroic and unwilling hero. He's totally in on accident. As he was near the dragon, he thought of nothing but leaving battle. He also gets a Tailbiter on accident. This reminds me of the unconventional heroes we saw in 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and 'The Wonderful Lamp.'

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2004

I think a theme would be that your actions matter more than your blood. Farmer Giles was not noble, but through his actions he became a king. Meanwhile the "other" king did not do much and therefore met his downfall. Also chrysophlax, may have been a dragon, but he was a bit of a wimp and a loser.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

Tolkien seems to be playing around with the creation of myth in this story. In Silmarillion, we talked about the decline of that which is great over time. Here, Tolkien seems to be doing the opposite; he's adopted a sort of "the tale grows in the telling" motif. First, there are the dragon-slaying king's knights, who turn out to be complete pansies. Yet they are renowned far and wide (though some of the younger dragons think they are simply legends). Likewise, the Little Kingdom had grown after the story into a successful kingdom founded on its legendary founder - who was also utterly worthless as a hero.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

I think Farmer Giles of Ham fits perfectly in the "apperances can be decieving" category. As Will noticed, the 'noble' figures in the story- Chrysophylax, the King, and the knights are fairly pathetic. Gram also displays actions contray to the tradition of dog as protector and faithful servant. Even though Farmer Giles is not transformed into some fantastical beast, he preforms the most unlikely of deeds wearing pick-me-up chain mail and a cloak, not exactly the picture of a kinght in shining armour. Throughout the story he is the only character who holds true to some form of chivalry, but he is never crowned a knight by the king.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

I think that though Tolkien took Fairy Stories very seriously, that "Farmer Giles" was a sort of satire on the form. By making the hero, as Tibbet noted, a sort of unexpected hero and giving that hero a humorous relationship with the "villain" that was the dragon, Tolkien is almost poking fun at the serious tone of the stories in the Fairy Books, no matter the color.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

I think one important theme in the story is the use of brains over brawn. Anyone who calls Farmer Giles a mighty warrior is wrong; he is out of shape, kind of a wimp, and a bit old. He gets his way by being determined (eg. bargaining), bluffing, and getting lucky. He never has to fight anyone, yet he amasses a ridiculous amount of wealth. The dragon, Chrysophylax the Rich, also prefers not to fight. He totally swindles the villagers into letting him go without losing anything. When he attacks the party of knights that are marching on his lair, however, he fails, partially due to the thinking of Farmer Giles.

As a sidenote: what does JRR Tolkien have against millers? Sandyman the miller form LOTR and the miller from "Farmer Giles of Ham" are both total jerks who just try to ruin the hero.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

Another theme could be the question of what braveryis. Even though Farmer Giles is a unexpected hero, and even though his ability to actually fight a dragon is questionable, he is not a completely static character like Aladdin, who does nothing. Farmer Giles may be lucky, but he is also brave enough to load his blunderbuss and shoot a giant in the first place, and he is brave enough to face the dragon. Even if he is not a knight, he does well with the opportunities that he is given. Perhaps Tolkien is commenting on the idea that bravery is trusting one's luck as well as fearlessness. Giles certainly knows just how far his luck will hold out. He does not make the dragon return for the rest of the treasure and takes advantage of his luck when he injurs the dragon.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

I'm liking the power of the little man. As we've said above, Giles is an unlikly hero, and most of all he's not super powerful, or have some legendary weapon. he's just this farmer dude. Not only is he unlikely, he's lazy, and at the beginning, a coward to boot. His ability to do what he does, is awesome, inspiring. SO go the little guy... woot!

-ror

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

One thing I think that Tolkien may be trying to say is that much of what comes to you in life is from luck. Pretty much all of the opprotunities that Giles has come from luck. It even says at the end that he owed his rise in a large measure to luck. From this, his advice may be to use your wits and take it easy because it's mostly based on luck anyway.

Also, did anyone else see some real parallels between Garm and Huan? (Well I didn't really see any other than them both being cool dogish guys who I really liked.)

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

There's a semi-comedic element of the unheroic hero (as identified), where instead of the main character (or at least the character the plot falls on) seeking greatness, greatness seems to find him and rough him up a little, where he just acts as he would normally and all of these people mistake and praise him. Garm is chanelling Puss in Boots, I think, just like Giles sort of challenges Puss's owner. Garm goes and alerts him every time danger is near, and so Giles can react and apparently impress everyone while not trying to be impressive. Puss went forth and set the stage for his owner to follow.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2004